BAs elite players.If they want to put that on me, it is what it is. I cant control that, said Anthony, who wa | Forum

ZHUKOVSKY, Russia -- Russias top athletes reacted with anger after the news broke Thursday that their track and field team would remain banned from next months Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Nike Air Force 1 Low Γυναικεια .Two-time Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, the teams biggest star, wrote on Instagram that without Russia, historically a track superpower, only pseudo-gold medals would be on offer at a devalued Rio Olympics.The Court of Arbitration for Sports decision -- to reject an appeal against an earlier ban -- marked the funeral for track and field, Isinbayeva told state news agency Tass.At a competition near Moscow that had been scheduled as a final tune-up before the games, most athletes saw the ruling as fundamentally unjust, and based on unfair allegations of mass doping and government cover-ups.Its a big blow for me personally and for the athletes, said world high jump champion Maria Kuchina, who would have been a strong contender for gold at her first Olympics.Three hours after news came through that Russias appeal against the ban by the International Association of Athletics Federations had been rejected, Kuchina leapt 2 meters in front of the sparse crowd. The jump would have been good enough to have won the gold medal at the European championships earlier this month -- if she and the rest of the Russian team had not been suspended.Despite all the difficulties and problems, we kept training, she said. Today I showed that Id be in contention for the Olympic podium, regardless of the news today.A string of reports from the World Anti-Doping Agency and an IAAF taskforce that focused on widespread doping in Russian track and field, along with alleged cover-ups involving high-ranking government officials, have done little to convince Russian athletes that their team deserves punishment.A lot of the facts arent confirmed, its complete slander and theyre still putting pressure on us, said Vera Rudakova, one of the worlds top young hurdlers.Bans for individual dopers are fair, but not the exclusion of a whole team, hurdler Timofey Chaly argued.Its dishonest, he said. There are people who decided for themselves that they can dope and maybe somehow theyd get away with it. That didnt happen and they got bans, thats fair.Russias ban contained a bitter irony for former European javelin champion Vera Rebrik, who switched allegiance from Ukraine to Russia in 2014 after her home region of Crimea was annexed by Russia. She will now miss the Olympics because of her new nations ban.I dont know whether to laugh or cry, she told state TV.A minority of Russian athletes think the cloud has a silver lining.A ban from Rio could be the incentive needed for Russia to take action, according to hammer thrower Sergei Litvinov, a strident anti-doping voice on the Russian team.He told The Associated Press that Russian athletics officials failed to act on doping in time and hopes that this situation can encourage the management to push through reforms. Litvinov says the next step for international authorities should be to investigate what he believes are Russian-style organized doping schemes in other countries.I want all (doping) systems to be shut down. Not just ours, but all of them, Litvinov said.As it stands, Russias once-vaunted track team could be reduced to just a single athlete at the Rio Olympics.Long jumper Darya Klishina was exempted from the ban by the IAAF because she lives and trains in Florida at an academy run by sports marketing company IMG and has been tested for years by the U.S. anti-doping agency, not Russias scandal-hit equivalent.However, some Russian fans have turned on her since she received permission to compete, calling her a traitor and demanding she refuse her Olympic spot in solidarity with banned teammates.But those same teammates want Klishina to succeed.Kuchina said Thursday she will obviously support Klishina.I dont think shes a traitor, Rudakova said. The IAAF gave us its criteria and Dasha was lucky that it worked out for her...Well cheer her on, she added, using Klishinas nickname.The IAAF has also allowed Russian doping whistleblower Yulia Stepanova to race, but the 800-meter runner is struggling with injury and has not set a competitive time this year.Regardless of their views on Russias doping scandal, almost all of its athletes must now rebuild their careers and hope to return to international competition next season.Outspoken in his criticism of dopers, Litvinov even asked the IAAF to give him more doping tests.Now in the same boat as his less strident teammates, he says all thats left is to try not to lose motivation for next year. Nike Air Force 1 Low Φθηνα Nike Air Force 1 Low Φθηνα . -- The boos poured down on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at the end of a horrible first half. http://www.airforce1greece.com/ . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Carmelo Anthony called Slam magazines decision to rank him as the 15th-best player in the NBA disrespectful but added that he wont use the slight as motivation.Nah, Im self-motivated, Anthony said after practice Thursday. I dont really need something like that to motivate me. Probably somebody sitting at their desk over at Slam coming up and doing their job.Anthony, who was ranked 13th in the poll last season, expressed his displeasure with two comments on the magazines Instagram post, saying dont play yaself and that all credibility lost in my [eyes].The magazine ranked the 32-year-old Anthony just ahead of Draymond Green and one spot behind Blake Griffin.I just looked at it, and it was disrespectful, said Anthony, who added that one of his family members sent the ranking to him as motivation. I feel like I have something to prove, regardless of whats going on. Ive always felt like that. High school. College. NBA. Ive always felt like I had to work extremely hard to get the respect I deserve.It is what it is. I take it with a grain of salt. I laugh at it. I deffinitely wasnt upset about it yesterday. Nike Air Force Παιδικα. It was just kind of surprising. ... So its just more of kind of letting them know, You lost some credibility with me.Anthony averaged 21.8 points last season -- near a career low -- but had arguably the strongest season of his career in areas other than scoring. He had a career-high 4.2 assists per game and averaged 7.7 rebounds last season, his first full campaign following knee surgery in 2015.The Knicks won just 32 games, though, and have missed the playoffs in each of the past three seasons. Anthony was asked Thursday whether he thinks the clubs recent struggles have affected his standing among the NBAs elite players.If they want to put that on me, it is what it is. I cant control that, said Anthony, who was last named to an All-NBA team (voted on by the media) in 2012-13. Theres so many things that come into play when it comes to team success, especially here in New York. So I cant control that. ' ' '